Bovey Lee Cuts Paper into Intricate Worlds

Bovey Lee, a Hong Kong-born, Los Angeles-based artist, uses cut paper to create miniature worlds. These intricate cityscapes and forms, made from Chinese rice paper on silk, contain differing scenes at every corner, allowing new viewing experiences at each distance observed. Often, works like “The Tightrope Walker” feature only one, tiny portion of the work directly reflecting the name of the title, while a busy world surrounds it.

“My cut paper is informed by our oftentimes labyrinthine relationship with nature, reflecting on what we do to the environment with our super machines and technologies and what nature does back to us in reaction,” Lee says, in a statement. “Despite the fact that we often turn to nature when we crave serenity and balance, we have a competing obsession with overdeveloping land and building new structures, diminishing our opportunity to actually experience the peaceful retreat that we crave.”

Lee has also practiced Chinese calligraphy since childhood. The artist acquired a degree at the Chinest University of Hong Kong before moving to the U.S. in 1993, when she earned her first masters at University of California at Berkley. Her work has been shown across the U.S. and in Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, and her native Hong Kong.